-Chapter 55-

-POV 3rd-

Robb looked at the walls of Winterfell besieged by an army of 10,000 Ironborn, and I smiled. As I had guessed, those fools had tried to reuse the same strategy that Theon had: making us believe they were heading north only to return via the White Knife and besiege my castle.

Robb smiled, then said to Greatjon Umber:

"These squids are trapped like rats, worthless on land."

Greatjon grinned predatorily and shouted:

"Let's go and show these squids who the North belongs to!"

He charged, cheered on by my soldiers, and we all followed, eager to stain our blades red with Greyjoy blood.

---

-22nd day of the 3rd moon, year 300 AC-

-POV Ronnet Connington-

"Lord Tywin," I said as I watched the old lion calmly sit across from me.

The old lion looked at me and then said, "I doubted your strategy."

"I know."

"I was wrong, it seems. Here's a message sent by raven from one of my spies in the North. We have succeeded perfectly: the North and the Vale are now in our hands."

Ironborn army destroyed. The Wolf King has lost 1/6 of his pack. The small squid attacks the wolf den from the northeast. The leader of the northeastern wolves has lost more than 2/3 of his pack. Ironborn retreating to White Lake. Ready to flee at any moment. Lion cub with them.

The mountain clans have descended from their mountains to hunt. The falcon is defending.

I smiled and then said, "I never doubted, but I understand why you are here, and I must implore you to postpone your revenge."

"If we attack now, we can easily take the Riverlands."

"We could, but who will supply the Starks with food?" I asked.

"Why do you want the Starks to survive? Have you fallen for one of the young Stark girls? Should I remind you that you married my daughter, who is the mother of the king?" he said, frustrated.

"Don't try to scare me or jump to foolish conclusions. I married my brother to Sansa for one reason only: because I knew in advance that this region would never accept a ruler who isn't from the North. But as her husband, if one day Robb Stark falls in battle, she will become queen, and he will be the king consort, with all my support," I said.

"And how would that help us by making the North stronger?" he asked, annoyed. The old lion had been planning his revenge for nearly half a year.

I stood up, arms behind my back, and said, "Because an army of 100,000 wildlings is coming from the North. I prefer they deal with that threat first, then we provoke a civil war by arming the Boltons. After that, we strike the Riverlands in a kind of simultaneous lightning attack. After that, the North will have two choices: die in a long, freezing winter from cold or hunger, since the Tullys won't be able to send anything, or bow to our rule."

Though he didn't look entirely convinced, he nodded and then said, "I want to arm my new fleet with scorpions. I'll need 100 in..."

"Ronnet, your wife is giving birth."

I dropped everything I was doing and, in an instant, had reached the door of my office, which I opened violently before rushing to Cersei's chambers.

---

-4 hours later-

"I love you with all my heart, you can do this," I said, wiping the sweat from Cersei's forehead as she suffered in agony to bring our son out of her womb.

She smiled sinisterly, then said, "What... do... you... think... I'M DOING?!"

The end of her sentence turned into a scream that must have been heard throughout half the castle.

I simply held her hand, or rather let her tear the skin off with her nails, while praying for it to end quickly because I didn't want her to die this way.

"I see it!" exclaimed Qyburn.

'Then what are you waiting for, damn it, get it out,' I thought inwardly, though I said nothing, fearing Cersei might tear my head off.

"Push, my queen, you're almost there, just a little more effort."

Cersei pushed while letting out a horrible scream, and then Qyburn said, "Beautiful, it's a beautiful little girl."

I smiled and stood up to take my little girl, who was so beautiful.

My heart was beating irregularly, and I held her with such delicacy because I was afraid of hurting her.

"There's another one!"

"RRAAAAAAAH!" Cersei screamed in anger.

I handed our little girl to a midwife and returned to Cersei's side so she could vent her frustration on me.

The second birth lasted less than five minutes, and a magnificent and robust little boy was born.

I smiled and thanked Cersei profusely because, even though I already had Ronald, I had never witnessed his birth.

In fact, I didn't even know his mother was pregnant.

Someone had simply dropped him off at the castle, claiming he was mine, which I didn't doubt given the striking resemblance between us.